Opuscula Airline ranker Partner with BDS?

 

ISRAEL HAS 15 air carriers. Most are domestic, in-country air carriers, and a few others are cargo carriers or specialized - e.g., crop dusting or helicopter tour companies.

There are at least 3 scheduled international airlines, alphabetically

* Arkia Israel Airlines

* El Al

* Israir

NONE of the Israeli international carriers is listed on the UK-based Skytrax list of "Top 100 Airlines."

North Korea's Air Koryo is ranked last (#150) in the rating company's survey - it, like Arkia, El Al, and Israir, failed to make even the "Top 100" list.

ON THE OTHER HAND, many Arab airlines made the list. There probably will be no argument that at least two of the list leaders

* Qatar Airways (1)
* Turkish Airlines (4)
* Emirates (5)
* Etihad Airways (6)

treat their passengers as passengers once expected to be treated.

Still, there ARE some Arab airlines that, like their Israeli counterparts failed to make the "Top 100" list. Missing are EgyptAir, Royal Air Maroc, and Royal Jordanian Airlines.

According to the The Star article about North Korea's airline, the "SkyTrax ratings are focused on service and not safety."

I have flown on several of the "Top 100" airlines as well as El Al. While I might not rank El Al as my favorite carrier - it's over priced and it no longer offers convenient flights from South Florida - it most assuredly would make my personal Top 20 list. (British Midland, thankfully no longer a scheduled carrier, would compete with North Korea's Air Koryo for the "World's Worst" carrier. I'm ready to explain why my Midland's flights were so bad.)

My #2 son who frequently travels to the far corners of the world, likes Lufthansa (#12 on Skytrax' list) and the Spouse favors Iberia (#56). Iberia is OK for me, but the jaunt from the arrival gate to the departure gate in Madrid always is impossibly long. (My best U.S.-Israel flight was on KLM (#28) via Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.) Because of France's De Gaulle airport I try to avoid Air France (#15) and any flights that require a change of planes at that airport. Air France service is, in my opinion, nothing to write home about.

I'm hardly a frequent flyer, but I have been flying commercial for a number of years; from tail draggers (e.g., DC-3) with real "box" lunches to Lockheed Super Constellations and L-1011s, now Boeing and Airbus jumbos. I'm not sure "bigger is better."

I have flown on the no-longer-in-the-air Eastern, National, Pan American, and TWA, as well as several others that were "absorbed" by still-flying airlines (Northwest (Orient) merged with Delta and US Airways merged with American). I've had bad experiences with several of Skytrax' "Top 100": Alitalia (74), American (79), Delta (45), and United (60). El Al compares favorably with all of the "Top 100" on which I have hours in the air - and waiting on the ground. I have flown multiple times on each of the currently flying airlines.

Although I realize some major mid-east carriers, particularly those of Israel's neighbors Egypt and Jordan, are absent from Skytrax' "Top 100", I still find it hard to accept that El Al and Arkia failed to make the list. No one ever has spilled coffee on me on El Al (it happened to another passenger on a KLM flight), no one gave my meal - with my name clearly marked on the box - to another passenger (British Midland). El Al never lost my luggage, unlike Delta and US Air regularly did when I was a consultant. El Al never left me stranded short of my destination and sent me on my way in an over-crowded jitney as United did.

Lod, El Al's home base - much improved since my first El Al flight in 1975 - is an easy to navigate airport - with free WiFi; I think better than Madrid, Rome, London, and far, far better than Paris .

From this passenger's limited in-flight experience, I think El Al should have made the "Top 100" list; that it didn't suggests something is rotten - not in Denmark but at Skytrax' UK headquarters.

In the air in Israel

 

El Al & the Histadrut

El Al, IsrAir, and Arkia – Israel-flagged airlines, are on strike.

Israel’s all-powerful union, the Histadrut, is striking at Lod but not Israeli’s other domestic and international airports.

The reason for the work stoppages is a Knesset decision to make flights to and from Israel more price competitive.

The airlines, led by El Al, complain that Israeli airlines have high security costs and, according to an Israel HaYom op-ed piece by Dan Margalit, are prevented from making code share partnerships with any carrier that flies into Arab countries.

El Al has code share agreements with American Airlines, which in turn has agreements with Royal Jordanian and Etihad Airways (flights to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), with connecting flights to Kuwait and Pakistan) and Gulf Air (flights to Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.; Bahrain; Doha, Qatar; Kuwait, and Muscat, Oman). Note: According to the American Airlines Web site, “Due to a regulatory change by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, American Airlines has suspended its code share on flights operated by Gulf Air until further notice.
“This regulatory change does not affect Gulf Air's code share on flights operated by American Airlines, which continues uninterrupted.”

If I read that correctly. It still is possible to board an AA flight to an Arab country.

El Al also has code share agreements with Iberia (flights to Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, and Egypt); SwissAir (flights to Bahrain, Iran *, Kuwait*, Lebanon*, Oman, Saudi Arabia*, Qatar, Doha*, United Arab Emirates; * indicates code share with Swiss Air); and Czech Airlines (flights to Kuwait, Bahrain*, Dubai*, Abu Dabi, Oman*; ; * indicates code share with Czech Airlines), so the restriction obviously is a false one.

El Al also has – or had – a code share agreement with Delta that, like AA, flies into a Arab state (Saudia).

According to HaAretz, “A set number of weekly flights to certain destinations will be added every year. At the end of the five-year period there will be full competition on all routes between Israel and the EU, and every airline from the EU or Israel will be allowed to fly to any destination within the region as many times as it wants. The agreement differentiate between flights that terminate in Israel or the EU and that continue on to a final destination.”

The HaArtez article notes that “There are now direct flights from Israel to 16 EU nations; 57% of all Israeli international passenger flights going to the EU. ( http://tinyurl.com/c4cfh8b )

A Jewish Journal article dated April 26, 2010, briefly described the U.S.-Israel Open Skies agreement that Ray LaHood, then U.S. secretary of transportation, said in a statement last Friday, after the agreement was signed. “Consumers, airlines and economies of both the United States and Israel will enjoy the benefits of competitive pricing and more convenient service.” ( http://tinyurl.com/cwcv45f )
 

V-22 Osprey – Gift (??) from USA

According to Shlomo Cohen's Daily Cartoon 22.04.2013 in Israel HaYom, US SecDef Chuck Hagel is “gifting” Israel with a so far unannounced number of the V-22 Osprey hybrid aircraft. ( http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_car.php?id=625)

The per unit cost of the V-22 is somewhat above US$100k.

Digging around the internet turns up too many entries of V-22 failures, from design on. The bird, at least in one point in its development, lacked weaponry for any ground support function, specifically a front-mounted machine gun.

Pod-mounted weapons on the aircraft’s wings are of questionable use when the plane is in VTOL (helicopter) more. The size of the propellers may preclude any standard wing-mounted weaponry.

American taxpayers probably will pay for Hagel’s “gift,” but as with most weapons “gifts” from the U.S., Israelis are expected to combat test them for the Americans.

The Osprey has developed, over the years, a nasty reputation for failing to meet its mission.

But perhaps, as Israel has done on other U.S. “gifted” weapons, it will “tweak” the bird to male it into a mission-capable weapon even if not a particularly safe flying machine.